Centers

[Vivian Barker]

I am thinking of creating centers for my 7th grade science class and am wondering if anyone else has tried this? What are some things I need to consider prior to creating the centers? I have 40 min classes and see anywhere from 26 to 8 students in each class.

[Jessica Fries-Gaither]

Hi Vivian,
I used to use stations with my upper elementary and middle school students - they would rotate through a number of them within a class period or two. It's been a while, but here's what I remember about the organization:

-The simpler the activities were at each station, the better. Complicated procedures or directions = frustrated students and me running around like a crazy woman. It also works really well if you have a number of items that students are observing, measuring, etc - they follow the same procedure at each station.

- Time each station before doing this with a whole class. Ideally, have a student go through the procedure and add in a little extra time for each. Too little time = frustrated students. Too much = behavior problems. And think about what you will do if a student doesn't finish a particular station. Is there a time at the end that they can return to finish something up?

- Plan in transition time between stations/centers.Again, not too long, not too short.

- Tape down directions and other needed materials so they aren't accidentally removed from the center/station.

- Think about how to organize desks or tables so there is sufficient work room. Make sure you have enough room in between the stations, and think about traffic flow between them. This can be a problem if students have lots of books or backpacks to deal with.

- Will stations be cooperative tasks or not? How will you organize students into groups?

- All the normal management issues for small groups and labs apply as well.

I hope these are helpful - please let me know if you have other questions! Good luck!

[Mary LeFever]

Hello Vivian,
Jessica has some great advice. Another idea is to have more stations than groups of students, so that students who finish first do not have to wait. AND/OR build in a page that is a reading/react activity they can work on while waiting between stations.
I always associate centers with elementary school, and cannot say I have much experience with them. But I do like the idea of stations to give students experience with concepts, to directly observe, to develop conceptions of the related science and to enable some reasoning about the observations and form reasonable inferences. So I don't know if centers are terribly different from stations. In station activities, students are given some information, they manipulate things and/or make observations both quantitative and qualitative and respond to questions and prompts designed to elicit their reasoning and help them connect their experience and observations to previous knowledge. For example, we just completed properties of water stations, Some stations had students manipulating models, another had them observing boiling water and making inferences, and another had them "float" a paper clip on water, then explain how that's possible, given paper clips are less dense than water, evidenced by the paperclip in the bottom of the container.
I searched NSTA resources using "learning centers" and got about 5 hits, most of which led to Science and Children, the elementary pub. But I did find this one: The Station Approach: How to Teach With Limited Resources
By: Denise Jaques Jones
Science Scope, Feb 07 .
at http://learningcenter.nsta.org/product_detail.aspx?id=10.2505/4/ss0... and it says its free! Check it out. I attempted to hyperlink, but if it's not hot, just copy and paste into your browser. Good luck!

[Vivian Barker]

WOW--so much to think about and great ideas!! I don't know how to reply to each of you to say thanks, so I am saying thanks this way. I really want to differentiate my instruction and be able to work with students in small groups, and I think this is the way to go. Thanks again and I will keep you up to date on what I decide. Now, to come up with the stations/centers and start after Christmas break. THANKS AGAIN!!!!

[Amanda Grear]

Hello,
I have discovered that the students have done better when the centers came to them. Sometimes this wasn't possible, but when it was it worked great. I had 2 or 3 sets of the materials for the centers and gave the students a time frame that they had to complete them in. I started them with a schedule that told them what day and center they would do, and then gradually released them to their own management. This worked a lot better than having their bodies move and rotate, since they are such creatures of habit and any little change can result in confusion and madness.

[Tom Jenkins]

So many great ideas.......

The main ones that I try to focus on:

Always have more stations than groups.

Laminate and fasten the directions so that they don't get written on, ripped, carried off, etc.

In larger groups it is sometimes helpful to assign roles within the groups- Manager, Timer, etc.

The more complex stations should be located closer together to allow you to spend more time on one side of the room as compared to the other.

Wear comfortable shoes that day ;)